Method of manufacturing ink transfer ribbons



July 1, 1969 w. H,w 3,452,854

METHOD OF MANUFACTURING INK TRANSFER RIBBONS Filed April 24, 1968 INVENTOR WILLIAM H. WEBER ATTORNEYS.

United States Patent 3,452,854 METHOD OF MANUFACTURING INK TRANSFER RIBBONS William H. Weber, Syosset, N.Y., assignor to Standard Products Corporation, New Rochelle, N.Y., a corporation of New York Filed Apr. 24, 1968, Ser. No. 723,662 Int. Cl. B413 31/02; B41k 3/68; B41c 1/06 US. Cl. 197-172 9 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A method for simultaneously manufacturing a plurality of separate ink transfer ribbons from a single web of uninked fabric wherein the web fabric is first cut into a plurality of side-by-side parallel strips with the leading and trailing edges of the web remaining uncut. The web fabric so cut is wound onto a core mounted on a takeup shaft to provide on said shaft a plurality of side-byside uninked ribbons independent of each other except only at the leading and trailing edges thereof. The uninked strips are thereafter unwound from said take-up shaft and fed past ink carrying roll means for inking the ribbons which are then wound onto core means carried by another take-up shaft. The last mentioned take-up shaft is in close proximity to the ink carrying rollers, and the core means on which the inked ribbons are wound is either a single unitary core or a plurality of separate individual cores complementary to the plurality of side-byside inked ribbons.

Background of the invention While the need for ink transfer ribbons has spirally increased in recent years, there have'not been corresponding improvements in the method for the manufacturing thereof. More specifically, ink transfer ribbon manufacturing methods are today essentially what they have been for a great number of years, and are slow, uneconomical, and highly inefiicient.

In accordance with conventional methods, ink transfer ribbons are commonly made by starting with a web of fabric which is cut into a plurality of separate uninked ribbons mounted on individual cores. These uninked ribbons are then passed through an inking machine wherein the uninked ribbon is unwound, passed through an inking medium and wound onto a core to form the finished inked ribbon ready for use. This method of inking uninked individual ribbons permits the simultaneous inking of only a limited number of ribbons, usually not more than four or siX, as it becomes practically impossible to control the tension and winding rate when more than a limited number of individual ribbons are involved. If a greater number of individual uninked ribbons were simultaneously passed through the inking machine, the probable, if not inevitable result would be a plurality of inked ribbons, some of which would be too loosely wound, others of which would be too tightly wound, and many of which would not be of uniform width because of lateral back and forth movement during the winding operation.

As a result, While the initial slitting operation can convert a single web into a large number of individual uninked ribbons, a multiple number of operations is required to ink all of these uninked ribbons.

utilizes most of the basic conventional slitting and inking apparatus but in a novel and different manner which proice vides for the highly improved results, namely, the inking of a far greater number of uninked ribbons at one time, through the conventional apparatus.

In accordance with the novel method, the uninked web is passed through slitting means which cuts the web into a plurality of side-by-side parallel strips. The leading edge of the web remains uncut for a short span so that the cut web can easily be wound onto a single unitary core producing individual uninked ribbons in side-by-side relation on said unitary core, all of which ribbons are evenly wound and of uniform width. The trailing end of the web is also left uncut for a short span, such trailing edge becoming the leading edge on the unitary core carrying the plurality of uninked ribbons. This unitary core, carrying the plurality of side-by-side evenly cut uninked ribbons is then placed on the inking apparatus where it is unwound and passed through inking rollers after which it is wound onto a plurality of separate individual cores mounted on a single unitary take-up shaft. The leading edge being uncut and common to all the uninked ribbons permits the threading of all the ribbons through the inking machine uniformly and assures a uniform rate of inking and uniform Winding velocity so that the resulting inked ribbons, consisting of all the ribbons obtained from the original uninked web, are uniform in all respects. The take-up shaft for the inked ribbons is located adjacent to the inking roller so as to have a minimum span through which the ribbons travel between the time they have been inked and the time they are wound onto the take-up roll. The reduction of this span to a minimum prevents any lateral back and forth motion during the winding process whereby the individual ribbons are of uniform width throughout the entire extent thereof. The individual inked ribbons can thereafter easily be severed one from the other by merely cutting the uncut portions in the leading and trailing edges of the original web. Alternately, the take-up roll can have a single unitary core on which the inked ribbons are wound in order to provide a single roll carrying a plurality of side-by-side inked ribbons for possible multiple spooling.

Brief description of the drawing FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective View showing the beginning of the slitting step in accordance with the improved method;

FIG. 2 is a view similar to FIG. 1 showing the end of the slitting step;

FIG. 3 is a schematic perspective view of the inking apparatus showing the beginning of the inking steps;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing the take-up roller after inking step is completed; and

FIG. 5 is a schematic perspective view showing an alternate method for winding the inked ribbons in accordance with the invention.

Description of the preferred embodiment Referring now to FIG. I, there is shown a web 10 of impression making fabric mounted on a supply shaft 12. As web 10 is unwound, it is fed between a plurality of spaced knives 14 and a support roller 16 being slit thereby into a plurality of strips 18 except only at leading edge 20 thereof which remains uncut. Following such slitting web 10 is wound onto a unitary core 22 carried on a take-up shaft 24. It will be apparent that because leading edge 20 is uncut, it physically links all the individual strips 1-8, so that the winding of web 10 onto core 22 will be effected at a uniform linear speed and under uniform tension for all the separate side-by-side strips 18. Upon reaching near completion of the slitting operation, as best shown in FIG. 2, the trailing end 26 of web 10 is also left uncut. Thus, upon completion of the slitting operation as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, there is provided on unitary core 22 a plurality of separate uninked ribbons 28 uniformly Wound in side-by-side relation and connected to each other only at the leading and trailing edges thereof.

Unitary core 22 carrying the plurality of side-by-side uninked ribbons 2'8 thereon is subsequently mounted on supply shaft 30 of inking apparatus 32. Said inking apparatus 32 includes a pair of adjustable tensioning rollers 34 and 36, ink supply 40, bottom roller 42 and center roller 44 which provide a measured supply of ink to inking roller 46, feed rollers 48 and 50 and take-up shaft 52. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 3, a plurality of individual cores 54 are mounted on take-up shaft 52 and are positioned, in conventional manner, so as to be aligned with strips 18. The plurality of ribbons 28 are unwound from core 22 and are threaded'through the inking apparatus between tensioning rollers 34 and 36, over feed roller 48, between inking roller 46 and roller 50, and then wound onto the plurality of individual cores 54, which as previously stated, are aligned with the respective individual strips. The threading through the inking apparatus 32 is greatly facilitated by means of leading end 26 which is uncut.

The several rollers are linked to suitable drive means for feeding the uninked ribbons mounted on core 22 through the inking apparatus at the desired rate and with the desired ink supply. Due to uncut leading edge 26, all of the strips are uniformly fed through the inking machine and are wound, following the inking thereof, at uniform linear speeds. It will be noted that take-up shaft 52 is immediately adjacent to feed roller 50 so that the respective strips, following the inking thereof, are immediately wound onto the take-up shaft, there being no significant open span through which the inked strips travel. Such arrangement prevents the inked strips from having any significant lateral movement as they are wound onto their respective cores 54 to in turn define, at the end of the inking process, a plurality of uniform Width and uniformly wound inked ribbons 56, as best shown in FIG. 4. The finished inked ribbons 56 mounted on their respective cores 54 can thereafter easily be severed from each other by merely cutting the uncut portion of the leading and trailing edges between adjacent ribbons.

The method described above is thus seen to provide means for manufacturing simultaneously inked impression making ribbons in quantities much larger than formerly available. In accordance with said method, all the ribbons provided from the starting web during the single slitting operation can thereafter be simultaneously inked in a single inking operation.

FIG. 5 represents an alternate method differing from that described in connection with FIG. 3 only in that a single unitary core 58 is mounted on inking apparatus take-up shaft 52 so that the plurality of inked ribbons are all mounted on said single unitary core 58 rather than on a plurality of separate cores in order to provide a single roll carrying a plurality of side-by-side inked ribbons for possible multiple spooling. In accordance with this alternate arrangement, there is eliminated the necessity for aligning the several cores with the strips wound thereon. In all other respects, however, the alternate method described in FIG. 5 is identical to that described in connection with FIG. 3.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. The method of simultaneously manufacturing a plurality of separate ink transfer ribbons from a single web of uninked fabric comprising the steps of (1) moving said web fabric past slitting means for cutting said web into a plurality of side-by-side parallel strips with the leading and trailing edges of said web remaining uncut,

(2) winding said cut web onto first core means mounted on a first take-up shaft to provide on said shaft a plurality of side-by-side uninked ribbons independent of each other except only at the leading and trailing edges thereof,

(3) unwinding said plurality of side-by-side uninked ribbons from said first take-up shaft and feeding said ribbons past inking means for inking said ribbons, and

(4) winding said plurality of inked side-by-side ribbons onto second core means mounted on a second take-up shaft for providing a plurality of side-by-side inked ribbons independent of each other except only at the leading and trailing edges thereof.

2. The method in accordance with claim 1 wherein said inking means comprises ink carrying rollers and wherein said second take-up shaft is in closely spaced relation to said ink carrying rollers.

3. The method in accordance with claim 1 wherein said first core means comprises a single unitary core.

4. The method in accordance with claim 1 wherein said second core means comprises a single unitary core.

5. The method in accordance with claim 1 wherein said second core means comprises a plurality of separate individual cores complementary to said plurality of side-byside inked ribbons.

6. The method in accordance with claim 4 wherein said inking means comprise ink carrying rollers and wherein said second take-up shaft is in closely spaced relation to said ink carrying rollers.

7. The method in accordance with claim 5 wherein said inking means comprise ink carrying rollers and wherein said second take-up shaft is in closely spaced relation to said ink carrying rollers.

8. The method in accordance with claim 6 wherein said first core means comprises a single unitary core.

9. The method in accordance with claim 7 wherein said first core means comprises a single unitary core.

1,313,960 11/1962 France.

453,181 9/1936 Great Britain.

ERNEST T. WRIGHT, JR., Primary Examiner.

US. Cl. X.R. 117-4, l36.l. 

